


Writing Drabbling

by Leprot00978



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 14:07:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16834138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leprot00978/pseuds/Leprot00978
Summary: Just random oneshots.





	Writing Drabbling

Once Again Swamp

One evening, as I sit with my husband, the television droning on in the background, my husband said something rather strange.

“I had a strange dream last night.” He says his voice, that I have known all the from an enraged battle cry to affectionate whispers of a tender lover, amused. 

“Really?” I smile, because this isn’t something too odd to happen. He and I both have very strange dreams from time to time. “What happened?”

“Well,” He leans back in his seat with the same amused expression. “I was a kid again. Maybe six or seven and I decided to take my parents’ truck for a joy ride.” I smile, remembering the old purple pick up truck that we had used as our get away car for all of our high school debauchery. In my mind I remember that the steering was so loose and bad that we were constantly adjusting just to remain on a straight line, the frame was rusting out, we called it a DUI simulator it was so bad and dangerous to drive. “So, you know, I took the truck.” That makes my smile widen because you know your husband would do just that, even as a six or seven year old. “And I drove down this highway. I ended up crashing into this nasty, boggy, swamp.”

A large swamp unfurls before me as my mind creates the dream he’d already dreamt. 

“The air was thick and humid.” 

Looking around I can’t see very far, the thick air coating my lungs as I survey the wreck.

“The water was like tar and seemed to pull me down as I got out of the car.” 

Stepping out of the crashed car my feet instantly sank into the sludge like water of the swam. It’s so thick and hard to move through, pulling me deeper into the dark water.

“I tried to get back to the road, but I got turned around somehow.” 

Looking up, I struggle by way back towards the road. The sludge pulls on my legs, fills my shoes, and drags me deeper and deeper into it’s heavy, wet, clutches. Soon, I forget which way the road is and even lose sight of the truck. Looking around frantically I struggle to keep from sinking any deeper.

“I was chest deep in the mud by this point and started to panic.”

Reaching out, I grab onto anything I can. Marsh grasses, sticks, rocks, anything I can to pull myself up. My heart beats wildly as I gasp as I continue to sink into the crushing depths of the swamp. I’m going to drown, the thought explodes with fear in my mind, I’m going to drown. I’m going to die! My vision begins to darken as the swamp pulls me deeper and deeper.

“But then, I don’t know how it happened, but I was suddenly at this house in the middle of the swamp.” 

Blinking groggily, I look around and feel the thankfully solid ground beneath me where I lay. 

“There was a family there. A mom, dad, grandpa, two cute kids.”

“Are you alright?” A woman’s face swims in front of my eyes and I nod, sitting up.

“Take it easy, you almost drowned.” A man tells you, helping you sit up. 

I nod and look around at the other people circled around me. Two kids, they look about my age, and an old man scowling down at me. Glancing back I see the dense fog of the swamp behind you. But…

“But, there was something off about these people. Like, really OFF.” 

Looking around you see that there’s bright sunshine here, beaming down on a cute little home. There’s what looks like a vegetable garden and plants growing. Getting up, I follow the other children over to the garden and pause.

“The plants were weird too. They had these tomato plants that were black and dying but they had these massive tomatoes that were so juicy and sweet. Then, beside them, were these healthy green tomato stalks with big green leaves but the tomatoes looked… Withered? Rotting almost.”

“Try one of these.” The little girl smiles, taking a plump tomato from a blackened vine. “You’ll like it.”

“They can’t have any of those.” The boy smacks the plump fruit from my hands, the tomato bursting into a juicy mess on the ground. “You know that.” 

“Why?” I ask, eying the rotting tomatoes warily.

The boy just stares up at me with a blank expression. “You can’t.” He shakes his head and points out of the swamp. “You belong out there, not here.” 

Frowning you look back towards the swamp.

“The weirdest thing is that, every time I looked away from the family all I could see was the swamp. It’s like, that swamp just pulled me in. Like it was trying to drag me back into it.” 

The swamp swarms around me and suddenly the cold, dark, sludge is rising up to my knees. Looking back frantically I see the old man nearyby, standing at the edge of the sun kissed land.

“I got stuck at one point but the old man, the grandpa was nearby, so I called out for help.” 

“Help me!” I call out to him desperately. “Please!”

“But, grandpa just shook his head and said”

“I can’t help you.” The old man sighs and he looks suddenly very sad. “You have to get yourself out of this one.” 

Grimacing, I trudge back towards the house. My eyes never leave the sunshine blessed land and the family standing there waiting for me. My legs drag and the sludge tries to pull me under but I continue on with everything in me as my heart beats wildly. With shaking limbs and breathless body I finally pull myself out of the swamp water to fall, exhausted, on the sun kissed ground before the Grandfather.

"The dad came up after I got back out of the swamp and told everyone-"

"We gotta get you home." The dad came up to me and helped me to my feet. "Come on, we'll get you something to eat and then on your way."

"So, I'm walking with the whole family and they gave me a huge waffle to eat. It's big and fluffy, it's the sweetest waffle I've ever had and T tell them-"

"This waffle's amazing!" I tell them as I bite happily down on the sweetest waffle I've ever had as they lead me down a narrow path out of the swamp. "It's the best waffle I've ever had." 

"Heh..." There's a round of chuckles before the grandfather speaks. "The things out here always do taste the best." 

I look up at him confusedly but then shrug, it really is delicious. 

"This is as far as we go." The mother tells you as they stop on the narrow path. "You must go the rest of the way on your own." She kneels before you. "Be safe and keep your eyes on the road." She hugs you tightly. "Don't look back." 

"It was a struggle getting back to the road because I had to wade through this nasty, waist deep swamp."

I push through the thick, murky, water as it rises to your hips and then just bellow my chest. Keeping my eyes locked on the road I never stop moving until the ground underfoot changes from the soft, sucking, muck of the swamp to firmer sand. I stumbled forward and fall onto the bank, pulling myself out of the swamp with the last of my strength. Looking at the road, I see that there's cars passing by and I'm sure that I can flag one down. Scrambling to my feet I wave wildly at the passing cars, trying to flag one down.

"I remember flagging down a car and, just as these really nice guys were letting me get into the car I looked back."

Just as I have my foot inside the car, about to take my seat I look back at the family that had helped me. But... They were different.

"The grandpa was in a old, ragged, army uniform and had a bullet hole through his head. The mom had bruises around her neck like she'd been strangled and then thrown into the swamp. The dad and kids all looked like they'd just drown... All of them, their skin was cold and grey like corpses and their eyes milked over."

A scream tears out my throat as I realize-

"It was then I realized..." My husband looks at me then, his eyes glazed with the memory of the dream. "I'd been in the land between. Where the dead are alive and the living are dead. I was dead but came back to life." 

"Oh..." I take a deep breath and nod slowly. "That... That is a weird dream." 

"Yeah." He chuckles then, leaning back in his seat and lighting a tobacco pipe. "I know I screamed when I saw them all messed up." He puffs on the pipe for a minute or so. "I have some really weird dreams."

"Yes you do." I nod in agreement as the milky eyes of the dead stare at me from the core of my own mind.


End file.
